Lewis Hamilton grabs pole for Mercedes at Australian Grand Prix

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain sits in his car during the third practice session at Albert Park ahead of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton captured pole position for Mercedes for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a thrilling finish to a rain-hit qualifying session on Saturday.

Hamilton saved the best for last with his final lap after Australian Daniel Ricciardo had topped the timesheets only seconds earlier on his first race weekend for champions Red Bull.

The 29-year-old Briton’s time of one minute 44.231 seconds on a wet Albert Park track was just over three-tenths of a second faster than Ricciardo, who upstaged quadruple world champion team mate Sebastian Vettel to delight the home fans.

Vettel, winner of the last nine races of 2013, set only the 13th best time.

“Today made it so much harder with the conditions, but I’m really happy with the job the team did,” said Hamilton. “These cars are much harder driving in the wet.”